32407

WiSe 14/15: U.S. History in the 20th Century

Jessica Gienow-Hecht

Comments

The seminar seeks to fulfill two premises. First, it will introduce graduate students to some of the most central events in U.S. American history since the late nineteenth century, ranging from Progressivism to the challenges of globalization at the end of the 20th century. Second, students will be familiarized with a variety of historiographical debates and methodological takes surrounding individual topics in modern U.S. history. Topics range from the women's role after 1900 and the baby boom generation to the Civil Rights movement and the political significance of baseball; at the same time, we shall be looking at specific movements and phenomena in modern U.S. American history, including mass culture, student activism, race, and women. Central questions include: How did the legacy of the late 19th-century reform movements influence twentieth-century history? Can we discern specific paradigms characterizing socio-political twentieth-century history? How did the United States develop from an industrial to a post-industrial nation? How did academic research, military planning, and high tech influence recent U.S. American "identities"? In the course of the seminar, students will look at both primary and secondary sources and deepen their understanding of how to engage critically with both to produce a scholarly essay.

Course requirements include two papers, active class participation, preparation of 40 pp. reading & 2 questions (in writing) p. week and three written assignments. No more than two no-shows acceptable.

Participants should purchase the following volume and pay attention to the correct edition (3rd. ed.) and publishing year (2011): Major Problems in American History, vol 2, Since 1865, 3rd ed., by Elizabeth Cobbs-Hoffman, Edward Blum, and Jon Gjerde.

One copy will be available in the library as well as at the local copy shop.

http://books.google.de/books?id=lZAIAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA512&lpg=PA512&dq=major+problems+in+american+twentieth+century+history&source=bl&ots=CWhNwn7B0B&sig=nvipFc-FaKmn9CInnWZRi0NaHfo&hl=de&sa=X&ei=XNn9U7PDBKTmywOGi4LIDQ&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=major%20problems%20in%20american%20twentieth%20century%20history&f=false close